Crosstown

by Richard Scrimger

How can a happy, respected Toronto surgeon end up living out the last half of his life as a homeless derelict just blocks from the very hospital that had once held him in such high esteem? This is the question at the heart of Richard Scrimger's Crosstown.

Scrimger tells the story of Mitch Mitchell in alternating segments between his current life on the streets and his previous life as a successful doctor complete with an attractive Rosedale wife and one daughter, both of whom he loves. In his continual efforts to rise in the medical ranks, Mitchell gets involved with the formidable Leon Opara, who "sat on more boards-hospital, clinic, charity, faculty-than he had fingers to count them on.. You didn't ignore a request from him if you wanted to get ahead. And I did want to get ahead." It is this ambition that inadvertently leads to Mitchell's downfall. When Opara brings in his fifteen-year-old model daughter, Magda, for a secret abortion, Mitchell complies, but, unfortunately, her pregnancy is more advanced than he had realized. When he induces labour in the hope of a stillbirth, the baby is-albeit weakly-breathing. How Mitchell handles this situation becomes one of the governing factors in his life: he must live with the consequences of his actions. Scrimger has done a fine job of plotting, and he shows remarkable control over the novel form for a first-time novelist-although, as the dust-jacket quips, this technically isn't his first attempt at a novel, but it's "the first one anyone apart from his wife has liked." His portrayal of street life, of the consciousness of a man living such a life, is unsentimental but poignant. He inspires empathy for Mitchell and, in the process, demonstrates the power of conscience and the ramifications of choice. Eva Tihanyi(Books in Canada) -- Books in Canada

269 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

I was born with very little hair and very little feet and hands. They all grew together and I still have them, together with all my organs except tonsils. I do not have four children -- they have me and we all know it. I write and teach and talk about writing and other things. Actually, I talk a lot. I’m right handed, my car has a dent in the passenger side door, and my blood type is A-. The motto of South Carolina is Dum spiro spero.— success comes by breathing. I like black licorice and rice pudding and ratatouille and coffee. Lots of coffee. My hair usually needs cutting. How much more do you need to know about anybody?

I have been writing since 1996. No, that's not true. I wrote for years before that, but no one cared. Since 1996 I've published fifteen books for adults and children. You can read more about them somewhere else on this site. A few of the books did very well. Some came close. A couple didn't do well at all. My most recent offering is Ink Me, a tragicomedy about a tattoo gone wrong, told in supercool phonetic speak by our learning-disabled hero. Zomboy – an undead story – is due out next year. (My editor and I are arguing about certain scenes right now.) And I am writing a semi-graphic novel about kids who fall into a comic book.
Do you want more details? Really? Okay, then.

In 1996 I published my first novel, Crosstown (Toronto: The Riverbank Press), which was short-listed for the City of Toronto Book Award.
Humorous short pieces about my life as an at-home dad with four small children used to appear regularly in the Globe & Mail and Chatelaine, and can still be found fairly regularly on the back page of Today's Parent. I reworked some of this material into a full-length chunk of not-quite-non-fiction, which was published by HarperCollins as Still Life With Children.

I started writing children's fiction in 1998. Two middle-school novels, The Nose From Jupiter and The Way To Schenectady did well enough to require sequels. There are four Norbert books so far, and two Peelers.

My work has received a lot of attention in Canada and The United States. The Nose From Jupiter is a Canadian bestseller. It won a Mr Christie Book Award, was on most of the top ten lists and has been translated into a Scottish dozen languages (that’s less than 12). Bun Bun’s Birthday, From Charlie’s Point of View, Mystical Rose, and Into the Ravine made a variety of short lists and books of the year – Quill and Quire, Canadian Library Association, Globe and Mail, Chicago Public Library, Time Out NY (kids), blah blah. Ink Me is part of the “7” series – linked novels featuring seven grandsons with quests from their common grandfather. Pretty cool, eh? As my most recent book, it is my current favorite. But watch out for Zomboy next year. It’s a killer!